


5. She's All Lady

by Whreflections



Series: Shuffle fics [5]
Category: Castle
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Secret Relationship, Shuffle Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 04:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whreflections/pseuds/Whreflections
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of my shuffle meme fics series. These were supposed to be drabbles, but I don't really do drabbles typically so...some of them are, some of them not so much.</p><p>Almost a year into their relationship, they're still doing their best to keep it out of the public eye, and more importantly, away from Gates' attention.  With the release of a new book Castle heads off to the launch party without her, only to find he's a lot more lonely without her than he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5. She's All Lady

**Author's Note:**

> 5\. She's All Lady- Joe Nichols
> 
> (the songs in these first ten I'll post all came from my current playlist on grooveshark, cause I was too eager to do this to wait for my Zune to charge and give me many, many more song options, haha)

_No she ain’t here tonight, she stayed at home_

_Yeah it sure does get lonely, out here on the road_

_By lookin’ in your eyes_

_I can tell what’s on your mind; yeah I’d love to drive you home_

_And hold your body close to mine_

_You’re everything a man could dream of, baby_

_You’re all woman_

_But she’s all lady_

_No it ain’t you, Lord knows you’re a sight_

_Yeah I probably could, but I could never make believe it’s right_

_I’d rather be alone, and I know that sounds crazy_

_Cause you’re all woman_

_But she’s all lady_

In her palm, Beckett’s phone buzzed to life.  It was jarring enough to wake her, probably would’ve been even without the slightly tinny version of Jim Morrison’s voice that poured from the speakers.  Still half asleep, she answered and tucked the phone in close to her ear.

“Castle?”

“Hey, you up?”

“Well I’m relatively sure I just answered the phone, but I guess-“

“I know, I know that, I was just wondering-  I didn’t meant to wake you, it’s just-“

He always got flustered when he was lost, tripped over his words like a boy caught in lie and she sat up, blankets falling around her waist as she reached to click on her light.  The clock read 2:15, a lot later than she’d expected. 

“It’s ok, I’m up now.  Did something happen at the party?”  She wasn’t going to say the rest, wasn’t going to tell him how she’d meant to go out and drink with Lanie only to change her mind last minute and stay in.  She pulled on her favorite soft pajama pants and his shirt, played guitar and lost her place so many times she gave up in favor of Wuthering Heights and a pint of rum ice cream, and she’d tried very, very hard not to obsessively check her phone, even harder not to flick the TV over on the news at eleven. 

Tomorrow, _Heat Lightning_ was hitting the stores and tonight his publishing house had thrown a party, full of elegance and beautiful women and she should have been there, should’ve walked in on his arm and drank champagne with his mother and showed up in all the pictures tomorrow looking at him with all the pride she knew would’ve been right there her eyes but she couldn’t go with him, not like that, and so she’d decided not to go at all. 

It was her fault, really, because she’d been the one to push it so hard, to say over and over that Gates just couldn’t know, and knowing that, she didn’t feel she had any kind of ground to speak up now.  Even though it’d been almost a year, even though she was sure this was the relationship she had every intention of being in for the rest of her life and eventually they’d have to come out of the shadows, she didn’t feel she had the right to bring it up.  Instead, she kissed him goodbye next to his car at the precinct, quick and furtive and nothing like how she wanted to kiss him, and she watched him drive off to go spend a night being one of New York’s most eligible bachelors in a room full of beautiful women in dresses that cost more than her car.  All in all, the night had sucked, and she’d gone to bed half waiting for the phone to ring and half hoping it wouldn’t, that she could fall asleep and see him tomorrow and everything would be a hell of a lot better. 

“Oh it was fine; my mother’s still there but I was able to sneak away, and I just couldn’t resist- hey, can you come let me in?  I know, I’m supposed to keep the key on me now, but-“

“You’re _here_?”  Even surprised, even with the half yelp her voice had tried to turn into, her heart raced just a little faster in her chest, and she was up and walking before her bare feet could even begin to protest the cold.  She shouldn’t be surprised, not really, because it was so very like him to show up in the middle of the night on a whim like this, to think only that he wanted to come to her and do it regardless of logic or any other constraint. 

“It’s ok, I can wait till tomorrow if- hey.”  He’d half stripped out of his party clothes, scaled it down to his white silk shirt and dark pants and he looked just right in them, perfectly at ease as he smiled around the last word, cell phone still in his hand.  He caught up to his surprise quick, dropped the phone in his pocket to take her face in his hands, though he didn’t immediately pull her in for a kiss.  His thumbs swiped at the edges of her eyes, and he raked her hair gently back off her face.  “You _were_ sleeping.” 

“Well, it is after two in the morning.”  She made sure it held no reproach, her smile not hard at all to keep with him holding on and looking down at her like that.  There was such a warmth to everything about him, a radiating sense of comfort she’d felt from him long before she’d ever been willing to admit how much it meant.  She reached for him, pulled him easily in for a kiss.  His mouth was warm and eager, just forceful enough to let her know that kissing her like this was exactly part of why he’d come, and she tightened her grip on the soft hair at the back of his neck.   “Come on in, and you can tell me what’s wrong.” 

A dozen thoughts flitted through her mind, visions of his exes and potential problems with the book and drama with his mother, a clamor she tried to quiet as she folded up onto the couch, curled with her knees almost to her chest on her favorite end.  He took his place beside her, arms open to let her fit in just right with her head against his shoulder; only then did he seem comfortable enough to start talking.  

“Nothing happened, exactly, it was…”  His chest rose with a deep breath, and her breath caught in her own when he turned his head to kiss her hair.  “It was awful.  All of it, from the minute I walked in.  I was there with all these people I’ve known for years, friends some of them, and they’re all asking me about the book, about work, about you and it all just felt so wrong.  It’s one thing to go to one of my mother’s parties and have you stay home because there’s a judge that knows Gates that might be there, but it’s another to hide like _that_ to….”  He shifted, cupped her chin to tip her face up to look him in the eye.  “To have an important moment without you in it.  I kept thinking, if you’d been there how it would’ve been different and I know, I know we’ve said we can’t but I missed you tonight and I just had to come.  I just had to be here, if you’d let me in.  And you did.”    

“Of course I did.”  Heat radiated out from his touch, spreading out from his fingertips the way it always did and yet for the moment, she’d been too distracted by his words to get lost in it, to give in to the urge to kiss him that his hands on her face always brought.  She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, an anchor and a caress.  “I didn’t exactly have the best night either.” 

His gaze flickered over her, taking full inventory in a way he hadn’t fully done in his distraction.  He let go to finger the collar of his shirt against her skin, and he smiled as she looked away.  She hadn’t worn it for him, not at all, but she’d learned he loved to see her in his shirt as much as she loved wearing them.  She loved the way she could tug the sleeves down over her palms as she curled up on the couch, loved the feel of it against her skin and most of all his scent on the collar, enveloping her.  Castle, he loved that she didn’t always button them all the way. 

“I think you missed me.”

“I think it’s cold, and you leave your laundry on my floor.  Speaking of which-“

“Kate.” 

The weight of it stopped her breath; his seriousness often did.  His voice carried its usual teasing slant so often that anything else still took her by surprise. 

“Look, I know we said-“

“Yes.”  She could’ve let him finish, probably _should_ have, but now that he’d brought it up her own words spilled over.  “I wanted to see you on the news tonight, to hear them talk about the book but all I could think about was you surrounded by all those bimbos and it’s not that I don’t trust you, you know I do, but I couldn’t help but think, everyone there had to be wishing they could’ve walked in on your arm.  I hated to think about it at all, and I don’t want it to be like that, for either one of us.”  

“I don’t either.”  It was entrancing, watching the joy creep into his eyes until they had that boyish glee she loved far too much for her own good.  He pulled her in close as he could, shoulder pressed against his chest and his arm a welcome pressure around her.  Against her hair, his voice dropped to a low murmur.  “You have any idea how many people I can’t wait to tell?  They’ll never believe me, ever.  Not unless you’re with me when I tell them, in which case I know at least a couple of them would tell you to stay away from creepy writers who write about you first.  I’m all in favor of disregarding their opinion.” 

Kate laughed, for a moment caught up in memories of the first time she’d read _Heat Wave_ , of the burn in her throat that had felt so much like thirst.  When she tilted her head up to kiss him, he was already there, ready to meet her halfway.  She could taste the champagne on him, faint but present, a sweetness to it that reminded her of the last time they’d managed to steal a weekend all to themselves.  It had been nothing more than holing up at his apartment but they’d celebrated  it anyway, and she’d straddled his lap on the couch and kissed the taste from his lips. 

Her hand curled around his neck, holding on tight though the kiss faltered as she shifted into his lap.  His hum of approval set her skin itching for his hands, for more than the way they rubbed easily at the small of her back.  His breath was hot against her lips, hitched as she tugged his lower lip between her teeth, suckling and moaning softly when the sensation made him tighten his grip.

Pulling back just far enough to get a little clarity, his panted “So-“ nearly went unheard.

She stroked absently at the back of his neck as she caught her breath, humming questioningly for him to continue. 

“You think we should tell Gates together?”  

The laughter rose too quick for her breath to catch up, wild and bright, and she leaned in to rest her head on his shoulder. 

“No, Castle, I think she’d eat you alive.  You let me handle that.” 


End file.
